Sean “Diddy” Combs Wants $30M Sexual Assault & Trafficking Suit From Ex-Producer Tossed Out; Lil Rod’s Lawyers Mocks Filing As “Weak”
Sean Combs is still awaiting the next move by the Department of Justice after the feds raided the much accused and now scorned “Missing You” performer’s LA and Miami’s homes earlier this year. However, Combs went on the offensive Monday in the hopes of having his former Love Album producer Lil Rod’s $30 million sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit dismissed.
“Jones’ Second Amended Complaint is his third attempt to dress up a run of the mill commercial disagreement as a salacious RICO conspiracy,” declares Combs’ Sher Tremonte LLP’s lawyers in a memorandum of law supporting the motion to toss the action first filed by Rodney Jones Jr., AKA Lil Rod, in February 2024.
More from Deadline
Universal Music Stock Takes Big Hit As Streaming & Subscription Revenue Shrinks
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Under Ongoing Federal Criminal Investigation In New York
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Returns New York's Key To The City Award Upon Mayor's Request
Read Sean Combs’ filing to have Lil Rod’s $30 million sexual assault case dismissed here
“Running to nearly 100 pages, it includes countless tall tales, shameless celebrity namedrops, and irrelevant images,” the document adds. “Yet, despite all its hyperbole and lurid theatrics, the SAC fails to state a single viable claim against any of the Combs Defendants. Replete with legally meaningless allegations and blatant falsehoods, the SAC’s true purpose is to generate media hype and exploit it to extract a settlement—no surprise, given that Jones’ attorney was recently referred to this Court’s Grievance Committee for engaging in a ‘pattern’ of ‘improperly fil[ing] cases in federal court to garner media attention, embarrass defendants with salacious allegations, and pressure defendants to settle quickly.'”
Represented by Brooklyn-based attorney Tyrone Blackburn, Jones alleged in his initial complaint that during the long recording of theTop 20 debuting The Love Album: Off The Grid, Combs tried to “groom him into accepting a homosexual relationship …a normal practice in the music industry.” Cuba Gooding Jr is also a defendant in the case along with Combs. Various music executives such as Universal Music Group boss Lucian Grainge and the likes of Motown Records were defendants too, but they have been terminated from the case several months ago.
Still, Jones also claimed that the “forceful and demanding” Combs, who still goes by Diddy, made him have sex with prostitutes, and submit to constant groping of his genitals. Citing a a “RICO enterprise” exists that repeatedly “failed to adequately monitor, warn, or supervise” Combs, the producer says he suffered being possibly drugged, raped, ritual humiliation, and still unpaid more than $50,000 for his work on the September 15, 2023 released Love record.
Already hit by numerous other sexual assault claims, including one quickly settled by long time ex-girlfriend, Cassandra Ventura late last year, Combs’ lawyers here are pushing back hard on the more sordid parts of Jones’ allegations.
“Jones’ baseless attempt to hold Mr. Combs liable for alleged sexual advances of third parties (which Jones alleges he rebuffed) on a premises liability theory must be dismissed because he fails to allege facts showing that any claimed assault was foreseeable by Mr. Combs, that Plaintiff suffered any injury, or that Mr. Combs exercised control over the alleged perpetrator or premises,” the performer’s filing today asserts.
Taking a swipe at Combs losing powerhouse defense attorney Shawn Holley and others from his team in recent months, Jones’s lawyer Blackburn sets up today’s dismissal motion as a ruse, at best.
“This is nothing more than a billing exercise by Sean Combs’ latest set of lawyers,” Blackburn told Deadline Monday. “It is a weak attempt to fill their pockets before he is indicted, and they decide to haul ass, just like his five previous lawyers did. Regarding Cotes’ opinion, if their client does not engage in salacious behavior, I would not have anything salacious to file. I pick my clients; I do not pick their facts.”
To that end, as the DOJ’s sword of Damocles hangs over Combs, Jones and Blackburn have until September 9 to respond to today’s motion to dismiss. It should be noted, Combs has denied all claims against him in the various lawsuits — though he later corrected himself and the record with a widely criticized apology once the video of his beating of Ventura in an LA hotel in 2016 went wide in Many.
As for that raid by the feds back in the spring, the government hasn’t offered much more info, even though talk of indictments galore has been heard from various sources. “Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners,” a spokesperson for Homeland Security said on March 26 as federal agents were still in Combs’ California and Florida residences on the coordinated raids on both coasts.
“We will provide further information as it becomes available.”
Best of Deadline
2024 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming
‘Only Murders In The Building’ Season 4 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Stream?
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.